Mutated Tao

Dong~ Dong~ Dong Dong~

The sound of the beating drum and Li Zhi’s voice never ceased within the small room.

“Come help me, touch the roof and stand firm on the rafter, hold the drum in the left and the whip in the right, Ai He Ai He Ai Yo~”

Dong Dong Dong!

Meanwhile, Li Huowang could clearly see that as Li Zhi continued chanting, the red veil on the second deity’s head started to protrude, almost as if something was growing from inside. Peeking past the red veil, Li Huowang saw an animal’s face appearing from behind it.

However, it was very bizarre; rather than looking like a proper animal face, her face was contorted, with only certain parts of it resembling an animal.

The face appeared to be swirling around like water, appearing and disappearing from time to time as it wriggled.

All of this combined with the white smoke made the scene in front of him quite bizarre.

Li Huowang rubbed his eyes, confirming that the Second Deity was moving according to the beat of the drum as it followed Li Zhi to the table that was covered in white smoke.

“Hitting once turns it upside down thrice~ Hitting again turns it upside down nine times~ Three to the front, four to the back, five to the left, six to the right, sixty-eight Aiyai~” Li Zhi continued chanting.

Covered by white smoke, Li Zhi and the Second Deity circled the woman.

Meanwhile, the woman started to grab at her neck as if she was in pain.

“Go! Go away!” screamed the woman, her voice trembling.

“Come help me~ I summon the Overlord of the Yellow Heavens~ I summon the Azure of the Yellow Heavens~ I summon the Black and Red of the Yellow Heavens~ Announce yourselves and show your power. Follow my chant and do your deed~”

Dong! Dong! Dong!

As Li Zhi continued chanting and beating his drum, Li Huowang suddenly started feeling irritated. At the same time, he started to hear some mysterious noises from their surroundings. However, when he tried to focus and listen to what they were saying, the voices had disappeared.

With all this, he could tell that regardless of what type of Immortal Li Zhi was summoning, it was definitely different from the ones that he had encountered before.

It looks like he can summon more than one type of Immortal. I wonder… how many can he summon?

Just as he was thinking about this, the sound of the drumbeat gradually quieted down.

Li Huowang furrowed his brows and swung his sleeves to clear out some of the white smoke before approaching the table.

But before he could even get close, a black shadow shot out from within the white smoke and straight toward his face.

Schwing!

Immediately, a sword that could cut through steel like mud was unsheathed, blocking two sets of teeth from biting off Li Huowang’s face. The sound of teeth grinding against metal was quite horrible.

The naked woman was displaying an unbelievable amount of strength as she tried to claw Li Huowang’s eyes off. The blood vessels in her red eyes almost popped as she emanated an intense killing intent and animosity toward him.

“Li Zhi! What the fuck are you doing?!” Li Huowang shouted toward the white smoke while barely keeping the woman in check.

Dong Dong Dong!

“Immortal~ Family~ Ai~” The sound of chanting started once again as a red veil flew out from within the white smoke and covered the naked woman’s face. The woman struggled to no avail as an animal’s face crawled out from the red veil and into the woman’s mouth.

Whoosh~

As Li Zhi continued chanting, the woman was pulled back into the white smoke by an invincible power. “Immortal Family~ Leave your caves and the mountain, but cover it up with yellow sand~ Ride the clouds if it's cloudy and ride the wind if it's sunny. Come and go as you wish, and leave nothing behind, not a single bit of smoke~”

Meanwhile, Li Huowang still had his guard up as he walked into the white smoke. Once inside the smoke, he saw that the crazy woman was currently lying listlessly on the table and dripping with sweat.

On the other hand, Li Zhi was circling the woman alongside the Second Deity, with the latter burping at regular intervals.

“Leave if you want to, the sovereign has given you the horse’s reins. Undo the restraints and ride the saddle, the Immortal Family will spur the horse forward~ Time to go back~ Ai Hai Yi Hou Hei~”

After the final verse, Li Zhi flipped the way he held the whip and beat the drum three times in a heavy manner.

When the drumbeat stopped, the white smoke around them slowly scattered and the irritating voices disappeared.

“Are you alright? I accidentally let my guard down. Fortunately, it could not escape with you on the outside,” Li Zhi said nonchalantly.

“Let your guard down? In that situation?” Li Huowang could never understand his logic.

“My reward for all this is only 50 coins! Do you know how much a bowl of noodles costs in a city? The ominous thing has been chased away and the victim is still alive. That is already the best I can do. If you want to blame something, then blame that lousy rule. Tch! What a lousy rule! To think that us Shamans are so poor,” complained Li Zhi.

Li Huowang controlled his desire to roll his eyes at him and walked to the table and began to carefully inspect the woman.

He could see that she had suffered mentally; her eyes filled with fear and her body was trembling uncontrollably. However, even after inspecting her for a while, Li Huowang could not see what the Immortals had taken away from her.

They don’t want money, nor is there anything missing from her body. Maybe the compensation that the Immortals seek is something more abstract or on the mental level?

Li Huowang could only take a guess.

Just then, the family of the victim rushed in. After seeing that the woman was fine now, they hugged her and cried in happiness.

After a while, Li Zhi walked over and told them, “Your daughter-in-law was possessed by something ominous. I’ve just chased it away and her body is quite frail after going through that ordeal. I see that the Feng Shui in your house is not very good. I fear that the thing may come and find you again. I recommend that you bring in a Household Immortal.”

A Household Immortal?

That phrase attracted Li Huowang’s attention.

“Sure! We will follow your suggestions!” The old man who had almost been frightened to death didn’t dare to reject Li Zhi’s suggestion.

Li Zhi rummaged around in his bag and took out a small clay deity. Then, he took out some red threads and wrapped them around the clay deity as he chanted something.

After finishing the chant, Li Zhi found a ladder and placed the clay deity on the steps.

“Offer a tribute to it on the first day of every month and light up some incense sticks on the fifteenth of every month. Remember this well. Now, the total payment for summoning the Immortals and inviting a Household Immortal comes to 100 coins. Pay up,” demanded Li Zhi.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang ignored Li Zhi who was demanding payment and climbed the ladder to take a closer look at the Household Immortal.

The clay sculpture was small and simple, almost as if it was sculpted lazily using one’s hands. But somehow, the eyes of the sculpture looked quite sharp. Staring at its eyes, Li Huowang felt as if he was staring at something alive.

Just then, Li Huowang saw the Household Immortal move ever so slightly.

What the? Am I seeing things?

“Don’t look…” A quiet voice came from behind him.

Li Huowang turned around and saw the Second Deity looking at him. Thankfully, her face was once again covered by the red veil.

Both of them were so close that the air exhaled by Li Huowang was causing the Second Deity’s red veil to shake.

Li Huowang’s mind raced.

Is this thing alive? Why is she not letting me stare at it?

Li Huowang shifted his gaze from the Second Deity and back down toward Li Zhi, who was counting the coins before whispering, “Is there something you want to say to me?”

Hearing Li Huowang’s question, the Second Deity used its long fingernails and pale hands to slowly pinch a side of her red veil, gradually lifting it up.

Li Huowang was holding onto the bronze bell tightly as he tried to swallow his saliva from the anticipation.

“Dear, let’s go. Time to find our old friend and see if he will lend us a bed to sleep on tonight,” said Li Zhi.

Hearing this, the Second Deity’s red veil fell back down as she quickly followed Li Zhi.

Chacha and Char's Thoughts

Urgh I need the new chapter!